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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

WIP Wednesday: Olympics Edition

I pulled out another UFO that is on my Q1 goals list this week for my piecing project and since these blocks are very simple to make they are a nice sewing break from my Olympics Organizathon efforts. Plus the fact than an empty design wall is such a sad sight!

The pattern is called Picnic and it is the cover quilt from Kim Bracket's book "Scrap-Basket Sensations. I'm using a jelly roll of Kate Spain's Serenade line. I had made 8 blocks last winter and then never got back to it. This is a different color palette for me and I'm liking it.

My Valentine's Plus top's quilting has begun with simple grid quilting along the 4" block lines. It's a little larger than I'm used to at 64" x 75" so I'm taking frequent breaks. Here it is on my cutting table after spray basting and I'm hoping for a Friday Finish on Valentine's Day.

During my Magazine Culling yesterday I came across this cute ad for one of my favorite Moda designers which made me smile!

My question for the day after moving into the Craft Storage Shelves Venue for some preliminary Bin Clearing is am I crazy for keeping small batting scraps?

If I was as obsessive about my normal life possessions as I am about my sewing/crafty materials I would qualify for one of the Hoarders programs! Since batting has gotten so expensive and I'm getting down to the end of both of my rolls it just seems wasteful to toss it. Please help me out with a comment about what you do with your batting scraps. How small do you go?

32 comments:

I use big batting scraps to make pieced battings for my quilts. I like to reuse as much as I can and have never had a problem with pieced batting. I know it's "breaking the rules" of quilting, but I'm pretty unorthodox. Small scraps can be used the same way for minis, wall hangings, table runners, pot holders, etc...

I keep the long "trimmings" from big quilts and piece them together for lap quilts. I do on occasion make small or tiny quilts, but not often enough for the number of scraps I have. I also have the stuff to make a flannel rag quilt which would use up a bunch of small pieces too.

I usually keep all my batting scraps that are at least 5 inches wide -- I use these with batting tape to make as my friends call it "Franken Batting" for charity projects or depending on the sizt it's great for mug rugs or QAYG strips using scraps.

I piece (3 step zig zag or fusible tape) some batting scraps together for baby quilts and lap quilts. I use smaller pieces for table runners, mug rugs, and Swifter cloths. Anything narrower than 7" goes into a bag for a lady that makes dog beds. I measure and label pieces so I can find a piece faster when I'm hunting for one.

I zig zag wide strips/pieces together for quilts. I can't tell the difference once inside. I keep scraps down to mug rug size. If I have any skinny strips left, I chop them up in little pieces and use to stuff my pillows for the animal rescue league. I can't stand to throw batting away!

I keep all my batting pieces! Larger pieces are used for small quilts. Medium-size pieces are cut into squares for rag quilts - really saves time and money when I need to make one of those!

The smallest pieces are used in a variety of ways. Narrow strips are great for bag handles and other quilted accessories. Small scraps make great dust rags in your cutting area! Fabric pieces and dust just cling to them! They are also pretty good for getting little shreds of fabric out of your rotary cutting mat. I also keep a small piece of batting handy when I am ripping out stitches. Those tiny little ripped out threads often don't want to stay where you put them, especially in winter when there is a lot of static electricity. So I put them on that piece of batting when I pull them out and they cling to the batting.

As Bonnie Hunter says - you pay the same thing for that 1-inch scrap as you did for the entire piece of fabric.... the same goes for that expensive batting!

I also Franken-batt! Too expensive to waste. I usually have large strips from the bottom and sides, which I zig-zag stitch together. (I tried the tape. Eh. No easier/harder than zig-zagging.) when I'm down to the littlest pieces, I cut them into 4.5" or so squares for rag quilts. And then I still save the smallest bits - I suppose I could chop them into itty bitty pieces and use them as stuffing?

I keep almost all my batting scraps. Small stuff is pieced (if needed) and used in mug rugs, or stuffed into toys. The slightly larger bits are pieced (if needed) and used in small wall quilts. A little larger? Those go into table toppers...again, pieced if needed. And the largest pieces will be pieced together for quilts. I don't keep long, very skinny pieces because if the pieced batting actually turns out to be mostly THREAD, not batting, what's the point? I've also used batting scraps as the dusting pad on my Swiffer.....works great.

First I have to say that Picnic is looking wonderful made with that fabric line. I am a huge fan of Kate Spain's designs. And you're right - an empty design wall is kind of sad. Mine is empty right now so I need to change that.

I also keep batting scraps and piece them together, especially for table toppers, mug rugs, or using in pillows. I have a pretty big stack again right now that I just refolded on my shelf when I was searching for a piece to use in a wall hanging.

I keep it all, almost. Narrow pieces 1" is saved for handles for tote bags. I zig-zag the rest together for mug rugs, table runners. The big trimmings are pieced for lap quilts....especially all the donation quilts I do. Batting is too expensive to waste or toss. Keep hoarding it!

Well I will chime in here with another use. I piece together "like" sizes if they are large enough. If they are smaller, I cut up into batting squares for rag quilts. Recently my new obsession is make pillow forms. I lay out the long narrow pieces and attack them from all angles with my rotary cutter to make stuffing. The batting holds it shape lots longer than the poly-fil. Once the batting is sliced into bits, it is not lumpy in the pillow forms.

I also take a selvage or small scrap of fabric and safety pin it to the batting with the size of the scrap written with a sharpie. This helps me match like sizes and find batting scraps that will work for projects easily. I don't like to measure things over and over.

I save it all. I "franken-batt" for smaller quilts. I keep pieces for smaller art quilts and things like hot pads, mug rugs, etc. And like Teri, if they get quite small or skinny, I pile them on the cutting mat, and slice them up with my 60mm rotary cutter. I've stuffed pillows with them and cat beds, and after washing are quite nice and fluffy, not lumpy at all.

I save all bits of batting 'just in case'. Like Rachel I franken-batt (love that word!) for mini quilts and I have used a 1.5 inch wide long strip trimmed from a quilt to rescue another quilt that had moved when I was quilting it leaving the batting short on one side (incompetence). I know the tiny bits will come in handy - one day.

I save the tiny tiny pieces to use as stuffing. I've heard others say they use the larger scraps as a foundation for strip piecing I think it's called? and then sew those pieces together in a sort of crazy quilt collage type arrangement and add a backing.

Great discussion Deb...thanks! I keep all of my batting scaps as well. I zig-zag pieces together for quilts. Smaller pieces are used for coasters, bags, etc. Lately, I have started to use the stitched together pieces for practice sandwiches as I work on my FMQ'ing...seems a lot smarter than cutting a chunk out of a queen size batting piece.

I save my batting pieces. Like others I sew together to get big enough for baby quilts, wall hangings, table runners and the like. I also have used scraps to dust my sewing area and on my Swiffer to dust floors. I like both your projects. Thanks for sharing.

I save a lot, but not everything. I don't keep anything smaller than 2.5 inch strips or 4 inches square. I use it for rag quilts, coasters, FMQ practice, and FMQ tension checks, bag straps, quilted pillows, table runners, and Franken-batts. I don't keep it if I don't think I will actually use it. I don't have unlimited space, and I figure my time is worth something. Yes, batting gets expensive, but is it really worth the time investment? What I don't keep I give away to another crafter, like my niece.

This is a great discussion. Like you, I have saved all pieces of batting. But I haven't done anything with it. (Another collectible?) There have been many good ideas for using the scraps. Love the idea of making quilts for ladybugs too!

I have been using smaller batting pieces for mug rugs, placemats and piecing them together when I can make a couple of smaller pieces work. I also worked on a quilt as you go quilt that took 10 pieces of batting. I used a large amount of what had been trimed off the sides of quilts.

I have successfully woven long skinny pieces together into a rectangle for a batting for a small quilt. I don't think it looked lumpy but it was a tad thicker than a single layer. Try it on a cat bed/quilt to see if you like the effect.

I keep all but the smallest pieces of batting and zigzag them together using my stitch in the ditch foot which has a center bar - I butt the two pieces up against the bar and then use my widest zigzag stitch. I use the smaller pieces for zipper bags, mugrugs, etc. As with my other scraps, I cut the smaller pieces into sizes I use a lot so they are easier to store.

I keep everything bigger than that which I could cut into squares for a raggy quilt. Everything smaller than that I send to my sons classroom for the making table. It often comes home stuck on boxes and is a cat, or something!!